Mattel DC Retro Action Batman

Late in 2020, I went back through The Toys That Made Us series on Netflix and the Star Trek episode took some time to really dig into the history of Mego. Many of the toys I played with growing up or have collected are technically before my time but Mego was WAY before my time. I always kind of had a general idea of the toys, mainly thanks to Robot Chicken, but something about the presentation of the episode really gave me an itch to try this type of toyline out.

I decided to get just one figure, to try it out. If I didn't like them, no big deal, not a lot of time/money wasted. My favorite superhero is Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern/Ion) and I remembered that Matty Collector had a Mego-like brand for a few years. A google search later and I found a Kyle Rayner figure for $10! Perfect. I could hardly ask for a better price for making a trial run. A week later, the figure arrived and I loved it. They had an entire sub series of GL's that I bought and some other items but that is for a different blog. However, this was my entry into Megoish figures.

I decided to go back into Mego to find a Batman. This was pretty tricky because I wanted to find a Batman that would be my 'definitive' version of the character. For me, Batman exists somewhere between the way he was reimagined by Dennis O'neal and Neal Adams, the Filmation Cartoon, and the 1966 Batman series. Specifically, the Batman we see in the Jose Luis Garcia Lopez style guide.

Looking around at choices of Batman, the answer was pretty tricky. Mego, recently returned, has produced a Batman, but it reflects the modern style.

Figures Toy Company produced a few Batmans. They remade the original Mego Batman and produced versions for the Superfriends, the New Adventures of Batman, the 1966 Batman, and even their take on the Neal Adams Batman.

None of these really called to me. The closest had to be the Neal Adams inspired FTC figure but it still didn't really resonate. Then I remembered the DC Retro Action line from Matty Collector. This was exactly the figure I wanted but the first run of this line had floppy waists and the rest of the run had slightly floppy legs. Then I also remembered that ClassicTVToys.com was selling a new S Type body. The body used actual plastic articulation joints instead of bands. I decided to buy Batman and the S Type body. If I couldn't get the Mattel body to work, I could just throw it all on the S Type body.

As soon as Batman arrived, I popped him apart and rebanded him. It worked, and he was not longer floppy! However, the S Typy body had also arrived and it offered better points of articulation.

The Mattel body had way better muscle definition but the S type offered bicep swivel. I went with the S Type. I ended up giving the rebanded body to my Kyle Rayner, who is happy to no longer have floppy legs.

Judge for yourselves if I made the right decision.

You can find the DC Retro Action Batman on Ebay in the $20 price range.

You can buy the S Type body from Classic TV Toys

Look for some more 8" figure posts from me soon!

Comments

Mega Bloks Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016

When you become an adult and take up a career, you find that it is harder to keep up with everything going on in the world. When you are a teacher, this becomes next to impossible. That is why I am again in a situation where I found out about a toy line that I like after it has already been axed. This week's victim - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Mega Bloks (Construx), 2016. Mega has had many goes with different eras of Power Rangers but none of them ever appealed to me by design or by the content. However, discovering the Mighty Morphin variety of Rangers was a sweet surprise this Christmas. I was 7 years old when this brand entered my life. I vividly remember seeing the first teaser for the show on television and running outside and pretending to be these characters before I knew anything about it. There was a certain energy to the series that had a captivating power over we children of the early 90's. Which is why 7 year old me was running around shouting, "Tyrann

Replacement MOTU leg connectors by Rama and Amos Del Retro

Back in February, I came across a post on one of the Masters of the Universe Facebook fan pages about replacement leg connectors from a group in Argentina. I had already known about the screw and o-ring method, thanks to He-Bro - http://he-man.us/Innovations/BrokenLegs.html , and I had used it on a broken Teela earlier this year. It worked well but it doesn't feel permanent. I have a feeling that I will have to replace that sometime soon in the near future. Plus, I am having to actually damage the figure by screwing eye hooks in their legs. Anyway, these new leg connectors felt like something worth looking into. If you go to their website, www.stands-rama.com , they have a tutorial posted on how these work: Now, my spanish isn't great but I kind of got the idea of how these work. Heat the legs, push the connectors through the crotch and attach. Seems easy enough. I searched for some more tutorials and found this one from Toy Palloi: And this one from Michael Mercy:

Toy Biz DC Superheroes Flash v2, Hawkman, Two Face

I started getting back into the DC Superheroes line early last year. Even though the Kenner Super Powers line is superior in a lot of ways, this line has a nostalgic value for me. Recently, I was able to add three more figures to my collection: Hawkman, Two Face, and the second version of the Flash! Version 2 is a HUGE upgrade over Version 1. V2 Flash doesn't rely on a wind up action feature so it actually has arm articulation. Now Flash can actually do some better posing... let alone throw a punch! V2 Flash also comes with a Quicksilver/Silver Surfer-esqe platform. It even moves forward on its own if you pull it backwards. Toy Biz vs Kenner. The Kenner figure is obviously the better choice. Just one look at his weapon and his head sculpt and that is obvious. However, there is a dumb charm to the Toy Biz figure and I'm happy to have him. I really like this Two Face figure. He has a winding feature for flipping his

Kenner Batman Returns Catwoman and Penguin Umbrella Jet

Trying to build onto my budding DC Superheroes collection, I decided to look back into the Kenner Batman film toy lines. According to the online perusing I have been able to do recently, I found out that the Batman Returns Catwoman is actually the final product from the concept that had been worked on during the Super Powers line. I didn't need much convincing after that to try to pick the figure up. Getting this in hand, I'm reminded of all of the black and neon Batman Returns merchandise at the time. It was pretty awesome. Googling, I tried to find a picture of a Penguin backpack I had as a kid. I wasn't able to find it but I did find this similar Batman one. Pretty cool. It is interesting that Kenner included Selena's taser as her weapon. The taser scenes were some of the more disturbing moments from a very disturbing film. I think I am more surprised that they actually labeled it as a taser and not try to play it off as something else and jus

Toy Biz DC Superheroes - Flash, Wonder Woman, Robin, Riddler, and the Penguin

Toy Biz's DC and Marvel Superheroes lines were my first comic book toys growing up and I loved them! For DC, I had Superman, Luthor, Batman, Robin, Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, and the Riddler. For Marvel, I had Spider-man, the Punisher, Captain America, the Hulk, Deathlok, Human Torch, Doctor Octopus, Venom, and Silver Surfer. Now, these were not the best toys by any stretch of the imagination. They were very gimmicky and cheap, especially the DC line. A lot of the issues were straightened out for Marvel. With all of that in mind, these toys still hold a special place in my nostalgic heart. Unfortunately, most of my figures broke, were lost or their paint wore away, so I decided to get back in on the line. Ebay, my ever present nemesis and vice, had a lot of carded figures that I was able to snag for $37. Not a bad start by any means of the imagination. All of the cards had some water damage and Wonder Woman's bubble had some yellowing but the figures themselves were in g

Ubernerd, Beyond Loserdome

Search This Blog